beautiful things

Misti Swallowtail

So I didn't make it to Purl yesterday.  After living in New York for 17 years the subway is finally starting to irritate me!  I had an earlier meeting in the city that ran later than I was expecting so I knew I was cutting it fine when I made a dash for it but the subway took 10 minutes to arrive!  I know, that's not that bad, especially for a weekend, but I only had 18 minutes until the store closed.  By the time I got to W4th I had 4 minutes.  I diverted and went to The Point instead, which is closer, and made it there just in time!  And luckily they had a huge knitting class or group in there that was still wrapping up so they weren't in a huge rush to get me out of the store.  I made a decision in about 15 minutes and picked up this beautiful skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace.

It's not quite what I had in mind but it is gorgeous and in perusing project photos on ravelry I am convinced that this is the one.  Have I mentioned that I love ravelry?  For example, here are all the swallowtail shawls knit in this same yarn, and here are all the projects in this yarn.  There are several beautiful laminaria's in this yarn too.  

Oh and look at all the lovely colors.  Mine is called mojito - I love mojitos!

Anyway, I'm off to wind my yarn... I'll be back with photos...

And here I am!

 

Of course, after winding my yarn, I didn't really want to stop and upload photos, so I cast on.

Oh so pretty!  So I kept going...

It is coming out beautifully.

(The yarn looks more blue in these two pictures than in real life, at least on my computer.  The photos above and below are closer.)

I had said that I had never had or tried a triangular shawl, but of course as I started this one I realized that of course there is the lala scarf that I made for a friend, and also one for myself.  However, it was getting the chance to see wakenda's swallowtail in person at a Sundara meetup this week (yes, I got to meet other more experienced Sundara-fanatics) that inspired me to start this particular one.  Not only was it beautiful but she knit it in four days - had I not known that, I would never have attempted to complete anything in lace for the friend we're seeing in two weeks.

Of course the thing about triangular shawls is that a) you don't have to cast on a million stitches and b) you don't even have to bother swatching as you can just start out with the pattern and if you don't like it you can consider it a swatch and start over!  Of course, the downside is that you get off to a really exciting start where everything seems to be going really quickly, and it gets slower and slower and slower... 

We'll see how this one goes.  I'm really happy with it so far and I have more than enough yarn (double in fact) to see how it goes in size and decide if I'm going to add or subtract repeats.  

I know, it does seem like I've been starting a lot of projects lately, but it's really fun!  

Lace

So somehow, having declared myself "off lace" for a while, I find myself planning not one, not two, but three lace projects!  At minimum!

Yes, the Sundara Lace Silk I snapped up on Ravelry arrived last week:

This is mahogany over marmalade and grey over pink.  Aren't they beautiful?

To be honest, I'm not sure about mahogany over marmalade as a wardrobe color for me, beautiful though it is.  I'm tempted to see what I can trade it for, but I'm still so confused about what exactly to try and get in Sundara that I may just wait for a bit.

For the grey over pink, I'm thinking of Muir, which I've had my eye on for a while.  The ravelry page for the pattern has a lot of useful links, including for a beaded version of the chart.  Yes - I am thinking of putting beads in!  I may even go shopping for them today!

I'm also thinking of going to Purl and spending my store credit on more lace weight yarn for a quick Swallowtail Shawl for a friend we are visiting in a couple of weeks.  Yes, that's in a couple of weeks!  But it's at the end of a week long vacation and people seem to knit this up pretty quickly so I am hopeful.  I'm not sure what colors this friend likes but for some reason I'm thinking green, inspired largely by the photos of Laminaria, another pattern I've had my eye on for a while.  Ironically, I'm thinking of making this for myself using my Lanas Puras Melosa Lace Weight that I purchased for something else that didn't end up coming to fruition and has since been floating plan-less in my stash.  Yes - knitting from stash!  I'm pretty excited about it myself, even though I'm not sure quite when I'll get to this project.  Both Muir and Laminaria would be for myself - I have knit several stoles and wraps as gifts but have yet to have one for myself.  Well, aside from the Clementine Shawlette but that doesn't exactly provide a lot of warmth and I have to admit that I have actually yet to wear it.  I should have worn it to a recent wedding though with a new brown and cream dress I bought for the occasion... why didn't I think of that?!

I do so love Ravelry though, although I think I'm starting to spend too much time on it again.  The search capabilities are really getting quite refined - you can now search projects, not just patterns, which means, for example, that I was able to look at all Laminarias that are in lace weight wool to get a feel for how it might come out.  I've been uncertain about triangular shawls as I've never owned one or tried one, but this yarn is not so precious or expensive that I am unwilling to try it.

My other beautiful Sundara-off-Ravelry purchase was of 2 skeins of Delphiniums Fingering Silky Merino:

I haven't yet decided what to make with these but would love to figure out a cardigan, maybe Tempest but in one color.

Here are the Ravelry links: Muir, Laminaria, Swallowtail Shawl, Tempest.

Barn raising

The start of a new project is always fun... here we come barn raising quilt!

Playing with my stash

The funny thing about the knitting/fishing couple is that the two interests are relatively compatible. This week, I received a big box of yarn, and my husband received a big box of fishing stuff (hooks, lures, bait etc.)!  Even the costs seem to be relatively similar, although we haven't done a direct comparison.  Believe me, my husband is ecstatic that I've taken up knitting because it means that I don't complain when he disappears for hours on end on the lake (I am happily at home or at shore, or in some cases, on the boat with him, knitting).  Nor do I complain when our tv is set to the fishing channel for hours on end - when I really can't take it, I watch or listen to something off my computer, while knitting!  Fishing does slow down in the winter, at least on the east coast, but there's always the aforementioned fishing channel, and plenty of research and shopping online in preparation for the next season.  At least we both have our obsessions, although he has yet to start a fishing blog and I don't think there's a ravelry for fishing... yet!  I'm sure there are sites where people post pictures of their catch but I can't say I've gone looking...

We even share some of the same accessories.  Well, not share exactly, as in at the same time, but I have a nice fishing tackle box and some cute little boxes for some of my knitting accessories.

I also recently "lent" him some of my plastic yarn containers to hold all his plastic worms (don't ask) which were hitherto spread all over our living room floor.  Kind of like my yarn is now - I need those boxes back!

Speaking of which, well, yes, I've bought a lot of yarn lately.  Here are my stats for August (running net total, with total for the month in parentheses):

skeins purchased: 276 (17)  

skeins knit: 112 (2.5) 

yards purchased: 46,107 (5,795) 

yards knit: 17,125 (439) 

yards remaining: 28.083

$ spent on yarn (not including sales tax or shipping): $542.40 (eek!)

knitting since: 1/27/07

Yards knit is pretty low for me - I spent too much time shopping!  And it's the most $ spent and yards purchased in a month so far... but not by much.

$ spent does include my first Sundara subscription payment for yarn I have not received yet (so is therefore not counted in my stash) and it does include my Madtosh orders which I have not yet received.  I've already counted that yardage though because, well, it's not going to get any better this month because well um yes cough splutter I have been trying my hand at purchasing yarn off the ravelry boards.  And succeeding!  Or failing... to keep to a budget.  But let's look at the positive shall we?!

Lurking around and frequently refreshing on ravelry to keep an eye on ISO (in search of) and destashing threads does pay off.  On Monday, I managed to snap up a skein of Mama Blue sock yarn which was very exciting as I have never even been close to obtaining this yarn.  I was also approached by a super nice ravelry user who saw my name on the "ISO list" and offered to sell me a skein of toasted orange over pistachio sock yarn that I have been seriously coveting for my giraffe project and also for general gorgeousness but had pretty much given up upon.  I can't tell you how happy I was!!!  I picked it up from the post office yesterday and oh my.

 

Why yes I did open it on the way home from the post office!

 

Doesn't it look great with my citrus zinger?

So of course now I am torn between a) starting a Little Giraffe right away b) waiting until my MadTosh arrives to see how those colors look and c) saving this beautiful yarn for something more "worthy" than a stuffed toy.  Neither color are exactly "wardrobe colors" for me but I think I'll wait for the MadTosh (where are they?!!!) to decide for sure.

This is kind of my dilemma with Sundara in general - there are many more colors that I love than there are colors that I'd like clothing or accessories in, but I really want all the colors that I love!  A given skein can be so pretty as an object in and of itself that is so hard to resist... but there's only so much yarn one can justify buying just because it's pretty!  The latest announcement about the new collections that are coming out has me even more confused and I think I'm getting a little carried away by the scarcity frenzy.  I'm keeping my four Seasons subscription and that should give me more than enough yarn, but then something like toasted orange over pistachio arrives on my doorstep and is so stunningly gorgeous that I just want more.  It's not easy, this endless cycle of self-restraint and gluttony!

That's not all - gluttony won over yesterday when I found myself purchasing not one but two separate skeins of Sundara Silk Lace... this after declaring myself officially "off lace" for a while following all my recent lace projects!  They were for sale on the ravelry boards and so rarely do a) people want to sell rather than trade for other Sundara and b) I see their posts within minutes so I stand half a chance of getting them that I just couldn't resist.  One is grey over pink which was a limited edition (I could only find a photo of the colorway in aran silky merino) and the other is mahogany over marmalade, the latest Autumn silk lace shipment (to those who were subscribed earlier this year ie not me!)  

Yeah, so much for a yarn budget!

I think it's about time I knit a lace project for myself though, don't you think?!

I'm determined to do more knitting this month because shopping is fun but... not quite as relaxing.  I have been working on the trellis baby blanket and it is coming along great, so I do feel I have my "knitting mojo" back.  It's the first time since my recent deadline knitting that I've felt truly addicted and enthralled and I am enjoying every minute of it.  I'll post photos soon.

In the meantime, I'm also going through my stash and assigning projects to it where I can so I can get a better handle of where I am.  Ravelry isn't quite set up yet to create such a list so I've started a page here on the blog for it, although it's mostly for my reference, so there are no links or anything.  So now when I feel like "shopping" I can look through my queue or other patterns to see if I can assign more of my stash to projects!  My first pass already reminded me of some leftovers from various projects that I could use to knit hats or blanket squares for the Stash and Burn 7 Long project (see episode 58).

I'm looking forward to more queue organization in ravelry though, so I can sort between "am definitely knitting soon", "would like to knit someday" and "just want to bookmark for now" projects.  It would be great to be able to link yarn to projects before "casting on" too...

Beautiful

Want to see the most beautiful thing ever?

Ok, this is just one of the most beautiful things ever, but wow oh wowee aren't they beautiful?  Yup, my sKNITches Big Tryst arrived, 6 more skeins to add to my collection of 3.  From left to right here we have: Rosette, Menswear, Brocade, Cinnamon Teal Duck, Apples 'N Oranges, Seafarer, Blushing Brown, Rubens, Featherby.

I don't think any other words are necessary!

Inspiration explosion

Over the past few weeks, my "fantasy knitting life" has completely exploded, rather at the expense of my real knitting life I might add.  It's certainly balancing out what I'm coming to think of as my knitting monastery days of the wedding stole where I was focused on the one project and had no time for ravelry or yarn shopping or thinking about let alone touching other projects... plus I was working in laceweight white!!!  No wonder I've been going gaga over color!

Although my aesthetic tastes tend towards the more minimal (ie non-decorative) I've always loved color and texture and of course, knitting is a fantastic outlet for that.  I think it's why I keep getting drawn back to sock yarn, even though I have never actually knit a pair of socks with sock yarn (my only socks are the Tyrolean Stockings).  I could see getting into socks... one day.  Or at least knitting a pair or two.  I loved knitting the Tyrolean Stockings.  I don't think it's a "waste" to knit socks, but I do feel there are so many other items deserving of knitted attention that enhance a wardrobe in a more visible way.

But yeah, sock yarn.  I think people are more willing to go outside of their normal wardrobe color comfort zone with socks, so it would make sense that there is a wider variety of colors available in sock yarn.  I'm not sure if this is actually true, but it certainly seems like it.  There's more variety, more experimentation, brighter colors, and more interesting color combinations.  It's enough to drive a person crazy!  

I also like the higher yardage of sock yarn and the comfort of knowing that even if you don't knit socks, you can probably find a one skein project, like, oh, say, the Baby Surprise Jacket!  I'm sure I've said this before but I've made about a million of these in my head with every beautiful skein of sock yarn I've ever seen in person or online.

Anyway, all this is to say that, um, well, I have totally blown my yarn budget for this month.  Determined to make a Little Giraffe with my Sundara citrus zinger, and failing so far in my quest to obtain the contrasting Sundara color of my dreams through cash or trade, I decided to *gasp* look at other options.  Through the hilariously titled "Satanic Sock Yarn" thread on the Sundara Love ravelry group I received lots of good pointers for beautiful sock yarns with a similar yarn base that would be compatible and this led me to MadelineTosh.  

You know how if you hear a name a lot it suddenly hits home, even if you don't really know where you heard it before?  Well, that's what happened with Sundara, and now MadelineTosh.  A quick look at the site led me quickly to the conclusion that I needed to look no further - this was the yarn for me!  In addition to Sundara of course... to go with my Sundara.  Think of the considerable advantages in this particular situation: a) yarn is available with minimal time investment (I did have to do a little searching to find the colorways I wanted available in various places) b) I don't have to part with one of my precious citrus zinger skeins in a trade and c) I was debating between brown, orange and green as the contrasting color... now I am getting all of them and planning on making a family of three giraffes, big, medium and small!!!  

Actually, I *um* *cough* *splutter* ordered 5 skeins in total: bark, citrus and lettuce for brown, orange and green respectively, and I couldn't resist adding ginseng not only because it is so so pretty but because it pretty much has brown, orange AND green in it, so I might use it for one of the contrasting giraffe colors - user stash photos give a better sense of it eg here (ravelry, flickr) and here (ravelry, flickr) is a really cute giraffe that uses multiple colors so that's an option too.  

Then, well, I also got victory garden just because.  Again - so pretty!  Ironically, the official photo has it looking a lot more like ginseng but user stash photos have it looking rather different (ravelry, flickr). 

So I am dying to receive the yarn and get started on Sundara/MadTosh Giraffemania!  (By the way, I ordered from both Yarn and Fiber and Sealed with a Kiss as not everything I wanted was in stock or available at one store.)

My recent online travels have also had me drooling over Mama Blue (although forget it, that's as hard to get as Sundara - here are ravelry and flickr links) and, more attainably, Oceanwind Knits (their hand-dyed merino in particular), and Pagewood Farm (Alyeska and Yukon in particular).  I'm holding off though, and there's a much longer list of recommendations that I am avoiding for now... and I am absolutely not signing up for any more yarn subscriptions!

In other wallet-damaging news, my custom order of Big Tryst is ready so that's another hit on the old budget, although very very exciting... I can't wait to receive this order as well, and it means I'll have 9 of the 13 colors!  I'm going to make the barn raising quilt (ravelry, book website) from the book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together although I do want to try one square first and see if this is the best use of this beautiful yarn.  I was going to wing it on the pattern but I think I'm just going to get the book, which has lots of other beautiful patterns including the Pillow of Sei Shonagon (ravelry, flickr) which I have always admired. 

Speaking of sKNITches, here are some better photos of my recent order:

In other exciting news, I'm going to start swatching for my Pakucho blanket.  I received the two books I ordered and I think I have selected Courtly (ravelry, flickr) from the Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans.  This is a very "meat and potatoes" kind of book - more of a booklet really, with no frills, just photos and patterns, and while the photos are pretty good, the book is laid out in a strange way so that the photos and the patterns do not correspond at all!!!  There are some beautiful blankets shown though, and all are knit with worsted weight yarn doubled up on #17 needles so they should live up to the "quick" of the title.  Actually, I randomly saw a post on ravelry this morning asking about Knitpicks Options which lead me to review which tips I have and realize that I actually have #17 tips, which is fantastic as I was thinking I had to go and buy needles before I could start this.   I've now entered all my tips on ravelry under sock dpns, which I am pretty sure I will never buy, so I avoid this problem in the future.

In other news, I received yet another package from my Secret Pal.  I didn't mention it before but she had some beautiful stitch markers sent to me from Ruby N Purls a few weeks ago, and then just the other day I received an unexpected package from Amazon containing Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard.  Oh my!  I love this book!  My Secret Pal has done a great job of introducing me to new things while pegging my tastes really well.  I had actually seen and queued a couple of patterns in this book without actually taking note of or looking at the book... and now that I have the book, there are many more that I could see myself knitting.  My Secret Pal was very sweetly worried that the patterns in the book are simple and possibly not as challenging as I like... ha!  I explained to her that I have not yet knit what I would consider to be a "proper" sweater yet - the lacy hooded tunic doesn't really count in my mind as it didn't really need much fitting.  That to me is the daunting and challenging part - not so much the knitting itself but selecting the right pattern and yarn and getting the right fit that will look good on me.  The asymmetrical wrap doesn't really count either and look at the problems I have there with wearability, even though I knit it exactly as designed!!!  (I am going to give that a go this winter though and see if I can figure out a way to wear it.)

So yes, I am looking forward to the challenge of knitting my first "real" sweater and I think this book is really going to help.  Ingenue (ravelry) looks like something I would wear, and my other favorite is the Lion-Neck Cardigan (ravelry), although I don't really count that as a "real" sweater either (I imagine it's much easier to make a cardigan that fits).  I also love the Paradise Beach Cover-up (ravelry) and the Karma tank (ravelry).  There's nothing like a good cover-up and/or tank!  Sorry, no flickr links yet... the book is new so there aren't any FO photos in ravelry yet.  

I won't list all the other patterns in the book that I like but I am getting those fall sweater/cardigan urges.  Here's another one I like - Starsky (ravelry, pattern) although not with the belt (again with the belts!)  I particularly like this version (ravelry, flickr).  

I love watching my friend's activity on ravelry - it's like a constant feast of inspiration.  Still, I have to remember to occasionally actually knit... which I am off to do right now!

Home delivery!

I was working from home today and hubby was home sick... imagine our surprise when the doorbell rang at 8am. Usually we're both out of the house by then but this morning it felt very early.

Turns out it was the Con Ed lady to read the meter!!!  

But then, imagine our further surprise when the doorbell rang again at 8.30am.

My husband turned to me and said "yarn delivery?"

How did he know?!

How beautiful is this yarn?  Absolutely gorgeous, that's how!!!  It's kind of silly, but I always like it when all my yarn in a purchase looks good together, even if they're for separate projects.  I've been carrying this yarn around with me all day and petting it, it is so soft and pretty.  I haven't knit with it yet but so far I have to say, I am not disappointed.  In fact, I am getting more and more addicted, as anyone who has me on their friend's activity on Ravelry may have noticed when I favorited about six hundred thousand Sundara sock yarns from other people's stashes...

Of course the question that has been on my mind is, what am I going to knit with this lovely yarn to do it justice?

I adore the bright yellow-orange (citrus zinger) - it was my first choice of what I wanted from this update, but I was drawn to the other yellows too.  However, it's not the greatest color for me (or really for most people) in terms of clothing, apart from socks of course, but I'm not much of a sock knitter.  I think I could become one but it's not why I bought this yarn.  It's something I've noticed though, that I fall in love with a much wider range of colors than I would actually wear, especially sock yarns, but I guess that's precisely why there are a lot more colors for sock yarns than other yarns.

Anyway, I'm not sure if this is sacrilegious but... I'm thinking stuffed toys!  Don't you think they would really brighten up a nursery?  I can't quite decide which one yet... maybe Sheldon (ravelry, pattern), Elefante (ravelry, pattern), Elijah (ravelry, pattern), Little Giraffe (ravelry, pattern) or Sock Giraffe (ravelry, pattern).  Maybe with some green highlights from the lemon lime, even though I hadn't really planned on using them together.  By the way yes, the lemon lime is actually more green than it looks on the Sundara website, which I am happy about, and actually, I have kind of fallen Shetland Shorty (ravelry, pattern) for the lemon lime, although I'm not sure if I have enough (or any?) outfits that would go with it... nor do I typically wear shrugs.  It's such a pretty pattern though, and I think I have just enough yarn for it.  Otherwise, I wish I had 2 skeins so I could make a tank.  This cowl would be great too.

I've also become kind of obsessed with baby hoodies.  I love hoodies in general although they are a little awkward under a coat (and NYC doesn't have a long enough spring or fall for there to much time for sweaters without coats).  Look at these cute baby hoodies though: Cardigan for Merry (ravelry, pattern, flickr), Debbie Bliss Duffle Coat (ravelry, flickr).

So much knitting, so little time!

Subway yarn petting

I had meetings all afternoon today and when I finally returned to my desk, look what I found?  My long lost sKNITches package!  Remember when I placed an order at the beginning of the month?  Well, if you did, you have a better memory than I do, because I had actually kind of forgotten until I got an e-mail from Sam asking if I had received it yet because it appeared to be upstate... well, my company name was missing from the address so it got returned to her and she promptly resent it.

So yes, I opened it on the way home and spent a pleasant portion of the journey petting my new yarn on the subway!  All three skeins are beautiful... it was nice to have some "instant gratification" after all the yarn oggling of the previous few days.

Yowsa!

Wow, that was absolutely the craziest thing ever.  Remember how I was marveling at competitive yarn buying?  That was nothing!  

I've known about Sundara for a while now but every time I went to her site there was nothing for sale and I figured oh well.  Then brooklyntweed wrote about his Sundara Spiral Yoke Pullover and I thought hmmm, I really need to figure out what this is all about.

This time, the new website had more info, plus some searching around on Ravelry lead me to... well, go at your own risk, the Sundara Yarn Love and the Seasons Yarn Club groups and it was all downhill (or uphill) from there.  Ordering one season was a pretty easy decision, but then I found this thread with images of last year's seasons collection (here are the flickr links for spring, summer, autumn and winter for those not on Ravelry).  So totally and utterly pretty!  That, in addition to browsing around the forums and observing the fanatic love for this yarn (I mean look at this or here on flickr) and the extreme difficulty in obtaining it, lead me to, um, cough, well, yes, shhhhh.... I signed up for all three other seasons!!!  I was in particular not expecting to love winter, but in the end I decided that only in getting all four would I avoid any regret, even though I have never actually seen any of this yarn in person!!!  Also, it's within my yarn budget (yes I have a yarn budget, instituted just recently) but only just... and only if I really don't buy much of anything else in the next 8 months, which is completely unrealistic, but I am going to try and restrain myself from doing any more "collecting" and only buy yarn if I have a specific project in mind, at least during the subscription.

Except, of course, for today... I work from home on Tuesdays so when I saw the update hadn't gone up yesterday, I started stalking the site when I got home last night, and hanging out on the gigantic update thread (I won't bother linking to it - it has over 1,000 messages, most of them not particularly interesting if you are reading them after the fact, but it was a lot of fun while it was going on including side discussions on, amongst other things, the olympics and The Closer).  There was no update last night so... I figured I'd try my hand at it today.  I've never even been around for an update before but today, whaddya know...

 

..."out to lunch"!!

This "out to lunch" screen indicates that the update will be posted soon, and this is also the point at which crazed Sundara stalkers the world over starting hitting F5 like crazy people (except if you're on a mac in which case it's apple-r).  So I was apple-r-ing away and at the same time giggling hysterically because I mean, seriously?!!!  Totally crazy!  The site kept going down with a variety of error messages and people would occasionally risk a few precious seconds away from the website to post on Ravelry... thank goodness for that chatter so I a) knew I wasn't the only crazy one and b) was encouraged not to give up and c) it made it fun.

Then, gasp, after at least half an hour of "out to lunch", possibly more, I forget, the yarn seemed to be up.  I had different tabs set up in one window with the different yarns I was interested in so I started reloading them, selecting the quantity and hitting purchase... only to still get error messages.

The extreme level of fanaticism on Ravelry along with helpful tips from veterans lead me to persevere... I knew it was going to be hard and very competitive, and I was prepared to both stick it out and be disappointed.  Thank goodness I was home because I could never have done this at work and would never have even attempted it.  

So I kept refreshing on various tabs, while trying not to have too many refreshes going at once to overload my connection.  I was not getting through to an actual shopping cart but I could tell from the updates on the Ravelry thread that not many others were either... so I kept going until...

 

...progress!  

I'd heard that it's better to avoid paypal and just try by credit card, but neither link worked for a while so I just kept hitting both until one worked, which happened to be paypal.  I'd also heard that it's better to just focus on one colorway and getting that through so that's what I did, although I did try other yarns in between.

After a few tries, I was able to get through to paypal, lost a few precious seconds because my phone number was not saved into my paypal profile, then back to the Sundara site but still, it wasn't over yet, I still had to confirm my order...

Several tries failed until finally, there was a long pause (by this point I am muttering "pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease" under my breath and looking heavenwards) and then...

...success!!!

OMG wow.  I scored 2 skeins of limited edition Citrus Zinger Sock!!!! (I'm not sure how long that page will be up as limited editions come down after the update.) I was so happy, it was what I really wanted.   I'm not sure why, but it really captured my imagination.  I don't think I've ever even owned any yellow yarn before, and it's not like it's a particular favorite, but this just looked so lovely and sunny and happy, and I have a very special project in mind for it, which I will detail further when I have it worked out a bit more.

By the way, I was warned that limited edition yarns are almost impossible to get, but I figured yellow is not that popular a color, and there wasn't much buzz about it on the Ravelry thread, so I decided to give it a go.  Plus I dreamt about it, yes that is how obsessed I have become.  My dream was highly specific - in it I woke up and the update was happening so I put Citrus Zinger in my shopping basket, considered checking out but got greedy and added Spruce over Sage, only to have both disappear so I went for Daffodil instead and managed to get it!!!  That was how I decided to go after just one colorway but after I was done, well, I decided to keep trying and... I also managed to get 1 skein of limited edition Lemon Lime Fingering Silky Merino.  I didn't even try for Spruce over Sage, even though I really liked it as that seemed pretty popular on the thread.  I almost got Thriller as well but it disappeared before I could confirm the order.  

So yes, that was absolutely the craziest and most ridiculous thing I ever did for yarn.  I'm not sure I would try again with such persistence - is this yarn really so much better than other more readily available yarns?  Probably not, at least not proportional to the effort required, but I couldn't resist the challenge and I would like to think I would have had fun no matter what.  Unfortunately many who did not score are bitterly disappointed, which I understand (I'm not sure "fun no matter what" would have held had it been my third or fourth unsuccessful try), but I feel bad for them being so upset, and slightly guilty for having scored twice, even though, well, I think I was relatively restrained, and all is fair in love and yarn stalking, no?!!!  

But anyway, all I can say either way is... YIPPEEE!!!!!

Oops

So I proudly completed the last repeat and bound off the wedding stole this morning... only to realize that I forgot to do the last 8 rows of garter stitch!!!!  Argh!!!!!  It's easily fixed, and I have enough time, but how annoying and what a silly mistake!  I'm glad I left myself enough time for something like this although no, I did not test block some portion of the stole before finishing.  Unblocked, it is currently around 46" long and I really do think it will open out a lot.  In fact, I'm counting on it!  Three days until the wedding... but I'm hoping I can redo the border and block tonight.

In other news, now that I'm all set with sKNITches, I am trying my hand at conquering Sundara Yarn.  Of course, I totally missed yesterday's update, even though it was at 6.30pm EDT.  I checked, I don't know, at around 7 or 8pm and there did not appear to have been update yet... and then by 9.30pm I saw there had been an update and it was all gone...!!!  However, I have signed up for a Spring Seasons subscription which I am pretty excited about so the pressure is off.  Phew!